Summer of 69 Chords & Guitar Lesson

Welcome to my Summer of 69 chord chart by Bryan Adams. This really is a great tune. The chords are A, D, G, Bm and F which makes this songs a little more intermediate level only because of the barre chords.

There’s also a killer key change with a Bb in the Bridge.

If you play this on an electric guitar, you can eliminate the barre chord by playing all power chords which sounds really great through an amp with a little distortion.

Summer of 69 Chords:

Summer of 69 Strumming Patterns:

Easier Strumming:
1  2  3+  4 +
D D DU D U

Accented Syncopated Strumming:
>       >        >
1 +  2+  3+  4+
DD DD DD DD

You can always do all down strums without the accents, if you like. But I really like the accented rhythm as it fits the songs well. Accents are on the 1, the + after 2 and the 4.

To learn more about syncopated strumming, try Lauren’s Strumming Course

Summer of 69 Guitar Lesson:

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Summer of 69 Chord Chart:

Intro: D D

Verse:
D                   D
    I got my first real six-string
A                                 A
    Bought it at the five and dime
D                                D
    Played it 'til my fingers bled
A                                           A
    Was the summer of '69

D                               D
    Me and some guys from school
A                                           A
    Had a band and we tried real hard
D                            D
    Jimmy quit, Joey got married
A                                              A
    I shoulda known we'd never get far

Chorus:
Bm                     A
    Oh, when I look back now
D                                                    G
    That summer seemed to last forever
Bm               A
    And if I had the choice
D                                   G
    Yeah, I'd always wanna be there
Bm                               A (hold)
    Those were the best days of my life

D D A A

Verse:
D                  D
     Ain't no use in complaining
A                                  A
    When you got a job to do
D                                          D
    Spent my evenings down at the drive in
A                                 A
    And that's when I met you

Chorus:
Bm                     A
    Standin' on your mama's porch
D                                                 G
    You told me that you'd wait forever
Bm                                    A
    Oh, and when you held my hand
D                                      G
    I knew that it was now or never
Bm                               A (hold)
    Those were the best days of my life
D  D     A            A                                          D    D           A    A
    Oh yeah     Back in the summer of '69       Uh-huh

Bridge:
F                              Bb
    Man, we were killing time
                     C                                         Bb
We were young and restless We needed to unwind
F                  Bb                               C            C            
    I guess nothing can last forever, forever, no

Interlude:
D D A A  D D A A

Verse:
D                             D
    And now the times are changing
A                                                     A
    Look at everything that's come and gone
D                                          D
    Sometimes when I play that old six-string
A                                                         A
    I think about you, wonder what went wrong

Chorus:
Bm                                    A
    Standing on your mama's porch
D                                          G
    You told me that it'd last forever
Bm                                    A
    Oh, and when you held my hand
D                                      G
    I knew that it was now or never
Bm                           A (hold)
Those were the best days of my life
D  D     A             A                                         D    D            A   A
    Oh yeah     Back in the summer of '69        Uh-huh

D D A A   D D A A
D D A A   D D A A D (hold)

This file is the author’s own work and represents his interpretation of this song. It’s intended solely for private study, scholarship or research.

We do not distribute printable chord and lyrics charts. These charts are here only to support online learning. We highly recommend buying music from Hal Leonard or a reputable online sheet music store.

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